How to Use CloudApp’s Visual Communication Tools to Skyrocket Engagement

It was about a year ago, and I had signed up hoping for a solution to my “reader problem.”

As a content creator (blogger, podcaster, YouTuber), I can get quite excessive when it comes to building a cult following. I’m one of those people who lives in inbox zero, and generally responds to every. single. fan. email.

Like I said, obsessive. And while engaging with fans is what I LIVE for, there’s just one huge problem…

Engagement eats up an absurd amount of time.

Every minute (or hour) I spend on Twitter or Gmail interacting with readers and listeners is an hour I don’t spend working on my business, or ya know, creating content.

Enter CloudApp: A sincere answer to my online business needs

(FYI, if you’re a hip startup employee, Sass founder, etc…just replace the word “fans” with “users” for the rest of this article. The same principles apply.)

Sadly, as your fan base grows, so does the amount of time you need to spend engaging…unless you’re a Tim Ferriss type who literally never glances at his inbox (totally ok if that’s you, but you’d better be on T. Ferr’s level).

So out of desperation last year, I sent my first video response to a fan email. Via CloudApp.

Putting my voice and face out there in such a personal way was a bit scary at first. I wasn’t quite sure how people would respond.

But one thing was immediately clear:

Within 10 minutes of signing up and using CloudApp for that first video…it had already saved me 5 minutes.

You should know I’m one of those people who obsess with time optimization. My mouse sensitivity settings are set to max speed, and I know every single shortcut for every program I use on my MacBook.

My mind was REELING with the possibility of using CloudApp’s quick video and screencast features.

But there was still that question of fan engagement…

How would my readers and listeners respond to my video replies?

They LOVED it.

How CloudApp is boosting my reader engagement

When it comes to selling anything on the internet, whether that’s a product, idea, brand, or opinion…the single most important thing you need from your fans/users is trust.

Nobody’s going to follow your brand without trust.

It’s what us digital marketers should be obsessing over. Luckily, there are very tactical ways to increase visibility and trust for your brand.

Video.

Reaching people with written words and images (blogging) is fantastic. However, communicating via audio (podcasting) and video take transparency and trust-building to a whole new level.

How CloudApp saves me time every day of the week.

Yes, for email replies that are literally less than 15 words, I’ll just type it out. However, in an effort to really ‘wow’ my fans, I much prefer to OVER-deliver whenever somebody emails a question.

So I could spend 7-10 minutes…

prepping a fantastic email response,

fixing typos and grammar

making sure it’s readable, etc…

hit send.

OR I could…

Hit my shortcut to fire up CloudApp,

shoot a 2-minute video,

wait the 3.14 seconds it takes CloudApp to copy the link,

hit paste then hit send.

As someone whose inbox gets filled each day with 1-on-1 emails from readers and listeners (which I’m GRATEFUL for by the way), video responses saves me a ton of time and is also a unique and personal way to engage.

Win-win.

Last, there are two other CloudApp features that heavily benefit content creators.